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Mixed Bag New Year’s Orlando Fishing Report

December 30, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Mixed Bag New Year’s Orlando Fishing Report

We fished the Mosquito Lagoon one day, and the St. Johns River two days, and the Banana River Lagoon one day. Of course results were a mixed bag. And Sunday is New Year’s Day! So we have a mixed bag New Year’s Orlando fishing report!

Best wishes to all for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2017!

Monday around noon I went launched the Bang-O-Craft on the St. Johns. Son Alex and John Napolitano were with me. It was warm and sunny and every airboat in Florida seemed to be there. Fish were popping fry minnows all over the river.

orlando fishing report

Alex casting on the Econ.

At the mouth of the Econ there was a paddling fly caster who steadily caught 12 inch bass on a small white streamer. Since there were three of us we refrained from joining him and went farther up the Econ. We found breaking fish up there but they weren’t taking our flies very well. John and I each got a crappie.

orlando fishing report

Crappie on the fry.

When we went back down the river the other angler had left. We took his spot. Fish were breaking steadily. Using a fry fly I did some damage! Bluegills, bass, and my first shad of this season all succumbed to the fry fly’s charms.

orlando fishing report

Even the shad take the fry.

When the action slowed we went down the river, where we found another spot with breaking fish. Again, the fry fly did some damage, taking some reasonably large bass. The other fly that worked extremely well was a #10 white Gurgler, a silly little fly. The fish liked it, though!

orlando fishing report

A finished fry.

Fry Fly
hook- Daiichi X510, #10
thread- Danville flat waxed nylon, white
wing- craft fur, light grey, light tan, or cream
eye- Witchcraft 3-D, 5 mm

Start the thread. Cut off a clump of craft fur and pick out most of the fluff. Tie it on to the hook, smooth the head, and whip finish.

Glue the eyes on with Zap a Dap a Goo or Duco cement. After the glue dries, coat the head with Softex.

Since the fly is small, you’ll catch some very small fish with it. Some surprisingly large fish will take it, too. The hook is on 3x thick wire, so it will hold a good fish without issues.

orlando fishing report

Drying, not frying.

You can see how to tie a gurgler here http://www.spottedtail.com/how-to-tie-a-gurgler/. Since the #10 is so small I use hackle fibers for the tail and the tying thread for the body- simple!

On Tuesday Greg Scible and Caleb Cousins joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon light tackle action. Unfortunately the action part was fairly slow- a couple trout and small reds. We started fishing the spots that had been so good to me last week- not so good this day. We tried Deadly Combo-ing for trout. We got a few fish but again, pretty slow.

orlando fishing report

Pvt. Caleb Cousins got this redfish while home on leave.

We checked out a couple spots where I had found fish last week. Caleb got a slot red on a DOA CAL Shad. We Deadly Comboed again and got a few short trout. We tried soaking cut mullet in two spots where this worked wonderfully last week. Not even a catfish this day. I cranked the motor to move, and it pooped out. It would not start again.

I had them start fishing while I thought about the problem. They started hitting trout immediately, again on the Deadly Combo. Most were short, but a few were slot fish.

In the meantime I checked the in-line fuel filter. It looked fine, but there must have been some debris in it. When I reassembled it, the boat ran fine. We kept fishing though, and got a bunch of trout.

We ended the day with six reds and about 30 trout, not bad for a slow day.

Wednesday at 8 AM I met Paul MacInnis at the Space Center Badging Station. He got me a visitor’s badge and off we went to the Banana River Lagoon. We had perfect paddling weather- no wind, no clouds. We paddled a long way before we found any fish, though.

The fish we found was a school of large black drum. They were way more interested in each other than in our flies, as we did not get bit.

We got a few small trout, though.

We found some smaller drum. I got one about seven pounds or so on a crab pattern.

I later got a small, beautiful, nine-spot redfish on the same fly. Paul got a fish here and there too.

Some kind of rooted vegetation is beginning to grow on the otherwise barren sand bottom there, and the water is quite clear in most places. Perhaps it was just an off day, but it was pretty slow fishing-wise.

Thursday afternoon I went back to the St. Johns, by myself, by kayak. A short distance from the boat ramp there were breaking fish. My first two casts, on the little gurgler, each garnered strikes from 12 inch largemouths. Before leaving that spot three strikes were missed and two more bass released.

orlando fishing report

Bass on fry. Not a bad schooling bass, ay-tall!

The spots that had been so hot on Monday were not on Thursday. Apparently the fish are following the moving bait.

No shad or crappie were caught, but bluegills and a couple more bass rounded out the catch. All fish were released to make more fish for the future.

Thursday night a cold front came through, putting the kabosh on any thoughts of fishing Friday.

So that is the Mixed Bag New Years Orlando Fishing Report! Have a great holiday!!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Flies and Fly Tying, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Christmas Orlando Fishing Report

December 24, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Christmas Orlando Fishing Report

This is the 2016 Christmas Orlando Fishing Report, December 24. Best wishes to all for a holiday season full of joy, and a happy and healthy new year full of fishing adventures!

We fished the Mosquito Lagoon two days, and the St. Johns River three days. Of course results were mixed.

orlando fishing report

The lovely little stumpknocker is a very aggressive fish!

Sunday I went paddling on the St. Johns. It was warm and sunny and fish were popping fry minnows all over the river. At the mouth of the Econ there was another paddling fly caster who steadily caught 12 inch bass on a small white streamer. I joined him (he was very gracious) and caught several myself, some on a gurgler.

At other points along the river a small streamer netted me a crappie, some bluegills, redbellies, and stumpknockers, and several more bass. Some of the largemouths were as small as I’ve caught, beautiful little mini-fish. It was a good day and I made a note to return later in the week.

orlando fishing report

Bass of all sizes were crushing tiny minnows.

Monday Tammy joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon scouting. We launched the Mitzi at River Breeze and fished around Oak Hill area. We caught quite a few trout and redfish, some decent if not large ones, even found some tailing fish. The DOA CAL shad was the lure de jour. The day was spectacular if the fishing wasn’t, and fishing with Tammy is always fun.

orlando fishing report

Tammy and seatrout, a winning combination.

 

orlando fishing report

The release!

Wednesday was the winter solstice, historically, or perhaps more accurately prehistorically, the most important day of the year. That’s the day the time of daylight stops getting less and starts lengthening, a cause for celebration! My friend Dr. Todd Preuss joined me for some St. Johns River fly fishing.

As soon as I walked out the door I knew it would be a tough day. The air temperature had dropped close to 20 degrees, the sky was low and grey, and the wind was rocking the trees. All the fish that were there on Sunday were lying on the bottom someplace where we could not find them. We got four fish all day, with the best being a big, black bluegill that Todd fooled on a popping bug. After Sunday it was disappointing fish-wise, although it’s always enjoyable fishing with Todd.

orlando fishing report

Robert and Spencer. They caught some fish.

Thursday Robert and Spencer Cutts, a father-son team from Orlando, joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. The wind was honkin out of the north, the water had dropped close to a foot, and I did not know what to expect. Some pelicans were diving on a hole so I stopped to check it out. Two days of scouting, wasted!

The hole had fish in it. They weren’t stacked up in there, but we got seven or eight redfish and a couple of beautiful trout. Again, the lure de jour was the DOA CAL shad, although we also used some cut mullet to good effect.

orlando fishing report
When that hole stopped producing we went to another, from which we pulled another six or seven, including a gorgeous, 28 inch, 12 spot redfish. Other holes we tried were fishless, so we visited spot #2 again and got one more red before calling it an (excellent) day.

We never did get into any of the areas that I had so diligently scouted.

I enjoyed tremendously the curiosity and enthusiasm of Cutts the Younger, and Dad was pretty funny too. Thanks to both of them for a great day!

Friday afternoon was warm and sunny. I wondered if the fish were going off on the St. Johns again so I dropped the kayak in at the Jolly Gator and went a’paddling. Six bass and 12 sunfish later, all on fly, I had my answer. The only downside to an otherwise lovely afternoon was the almost astonishing amount of boat traffic on the river. Fishing was good, though.

Shannon Dunn sent me the following email, of great interest to fly fishers of Appalachian trout-
“We’ve recently published a guide to choosing trout flies, together with Bill Bernhardt of NC Fishing, that you may find useful:
http://www.fishfindersource.com/trout-flies-choosing/ ”

I like their keep it simple approach.

And that is the 2016 Christmas Orlando Fishing Report! Have a great holiday!!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, Paddle Fishing Florida, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report

December 17, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report

This is a Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report, December 17, 2016. Best wishes to all for a holiday season full of joy, and a happy and healthy new year full of fishing adventures!

On a glorious Tuesday morning I met Tom Finger and we went searching the Atlantic out of Port Canaveral for some denizens of the deep. The water along the beach was very dirty. Places that were full of fish last week had none. We turned the bow of the boat east and headed out to sea.

We found a few scattered weeds out about three miles, and slowly searched them for a while. We saw exactly one very short tripletail. Speeding up the process, we went looking for thicker weeds, breaking fish, other signs of life. We found none.

By this time we were south of the Cocoa Beach pier. We again came in close to the beach. We found an area with scattered menhaden splatting, but did not get a bite there.

Finally, late in the afternoon, we anchored by the north jetty where we got a couple bluefish and a couple small sharks. Although it was a beautiful day, fishing was tough. I ran into Scott Lum at the dock. He had gotten a single tripletail. It wasn’t just me.

Wednesday morning Rodney Smith met me at the Port. Again, the weather was amazing. We ran straight down to the end of the buoy line, then kept going another mile or two. You know, the Mitzi starts looking real small out there. We found some weeds and started hunting. Lots of shorty tripletail. Then we found a small clump of weed with a decent fish under it. We had to invest some time, but Rodney finally got it to take a jig.

orlando fishing report

Rodney was very happy with this tripletail.

 

orlando fishing report

However, the fish beat him so badly he had to rest :-).

We kept looking and found another, slightly larger. Rodney got it to bite but missed it, and we never saw it again. Or any others, other than dinks.

A moderate wind started out of the southeast and not trusting it to stay moderate I headed in towards the beach. There was still nothing there, until I fired a DOA Deadly Combo out. It must have landed right on top of the beast because immediately a hefty shark came up and ate the jig. It was the only bite we got there, and after the inevitable cut-off we headed back to the dock.

On another nearly perfect day (I love Florida’s winter weather!) on Friday Tom Van Horn joined me for a scout trip on Mosquito Lagoon, the first time I’d been there in weeks. The water still looks like crap. The grass is still dying back.

We Deadly Combo’d up a bunch of trout, although all but two were short. Then we went looking for redfish. I checked four or five spots before even seeing one, but we ended up seeing a few and Tom even managed to get one.

orlando fishing report

Capt. Tom with a redfish.

Friend and paddle fanatic Mike Conneen made a 5 minute video on our Big Bend trip, worth the time to check-

And that is the Dirty Water Orlando Fishing Report for this week!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Election Week Central Florida Fishing Report

November 5, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Election Week Central Florida Fishing Report

This is the Election Week Central Florida Fishing Report.

Rain and the Lagoons

Back a few weeks we had a near-miss from Hurricane Matthew. Several people asked me if the storm’s heavy rains would have a clearing effect on the lagoon. The short answer- no, it won’t.

The drainage area of the Indian River Lagoon system has increased three-fold since Henry Flagler built his railroad around the turn of the 20th century. That increase in watershed size has come mostly from drainage ditches that drain sugar fields, orange groves, and cattle pastures, drainage ditches that drain subdivisions and shopping areas, storm drains, etc. All that freshwater draining into the lagoon carries loads of nutrients and pollutants. So the rain, rather than increasing the water quality in the lagoon, actually decreases it.

If the water were pure rainwater it would be great. But it’s polluted storm runoff. It won’t be clearing the lagoon, ever. Rather than solving the problem it just makes it worse.

Outside Reading

Reid Bryant has a brilliant essay about social media’s blurring effect on fly fishing reality in the November/December issue of American Angler. It’s worth getting the magazine just to read it.

Blog Posts This Week

Go Macro Macrobars Review- http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/gomacro-macrobars-review/
CEP Merino Socks Review- http://www.spottedtail.com/blog/cep-outdoor-ligh…ino-socks-review/
—————————————————-
FOR SALE
Still trying to find a good home for my old EZ Loader Trailer- http://orlando.craigslist.org/bpo/5764303987.html
—————————————————-

Yes, we did go fishing this week.

central florida fishing report

Mr. Conneen works the Lox.

On Monday Mike Conneen drove and I rode along to Jupiter, Jonathan Dickinson State Park, to fish the Loxahatchee River. Beautiful mangroves lined the river with pine trees right behind them. The water was dark but pretty clear. High water. We saw a half dozen or so tarpon, no takers. We did not see any snook, the main reason we went. We did not see much else in the way of fish, and rare in a Florida waterway, no manatees.

We saw lots of birds of various water kinds of species, and some alligators, and caught maybe ten crevalle between us. Mike got the lion’s share of those.

It was a pleasant enough day to be paddling on a lovely river. Fishing was disappointing though.

Tuesday errands called, not the least of which was early voting. Man, I’ll be glad when the election is over, regardless of what happens. I digress. A small retention pond lies near the polling place. Thirty minutes of casting a red shad culprit worm netted me one small bass. Then the errands continued. Thank you, little fish! Please discharge your civic responsibility by doing some research and then voting!

You may have pieces of water you drive by all the time on your way to fish elsewhere. Thursday found me undecided about where to fish. High, dirty water in the lagoon makes me not want to fish there. The Econ is still very high. The St. Johns is still high. Some time looking at maps gave me an idea. “You drive past here all the time and have never stopped. Go check it out.”

I hooked up the Bang-O-Craft to the chariot and rode off to joust with windmills at the new spot (two in one week!). The new spot was beautiful, near SR 46 but surrounded by marshes. There were fishies breaking all over the place. I could not catch one on spin or fly and never figured out what they were.

Deciding to ignore them I started tossing a Culprit worm (same one as on Tuesday). Boom! Boom! Boom! Three yearling bass in quick succession. A long dry spell followed. Looking at the place you just knew there were fish there. But I couldn’t find any more.

central florida fishing report

Three yearling bass in quick succession…

I stumbled into a small creek with a little bit of current. The fish were “stacked up like cordwood” in there (I have waited a lifetime to honestly use that old cliche.) The Culprit worm got torn apart. The the DOA CAL worm I put on got torn apart. Then the DOA CAL shad I put on got torn apart, although what was by far the biggest fish I hit (three pounds, maybe a little more?) took that and tossed it, heartbreakingly, on the first jump.

It finally dawned on me that I had a fly pole and this might be a good place to use it. For close an hour I caught a bass on almost every cast on a cream-colored Matuka Bouncer. Yes, the fish were small, 12″ ones. But it was a bass on every cast. It has never happened to me before. It was fun. It was fabulous. It was by far the most bass I ever caught in one day in a lifetime of fishing.

The place was Loughman Lake. It must have some bigger fish and I’ll be going back.

Friday George Allen joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishing. Speaking of little fish…

We got numerous trout on DOA CAL jigs, only one fish in the slot. We went looking for redfish. We found some spooky tailing fish and never really got a good shot at one. We poled some shorelines. Shortly before we left George hit one while blind casting. That fish maybe went 18 inches, took a DOA CAL shad tail, and was the only red we got.

central florida fishing report

Redfish on the DOA CAL Shad, an awesome little bait.

The manatees are still everywhere. Please navigate with caution- GO SLOWLY!

You may have restaurants you drive by all the time on your way to eat elsewhere. There’s a relatively new place on US 1 in Titusville called Loyd Have Mercy. Soul food, seafood, and Bar B Cue. Susan and I went there Firday evening, not really knowing what to expect. I got garlic butter crabs with cole slaw and carrot souffle. Sue got shrimp with the same sides. OUTSTANDING! My only complaint concerned crab size- they were kind of small. But as far as the quality of preparation, everything was wonderful. We’ll be going back. Do your taste buds a favor and check it out.

central florida fishing report

What’s left of the crabs after I got going…

And that is the Election Day Central Florida Fishing Report!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Early June Orlando Fishing Report

June 4, 2016 by · 1 Comment

Early June Orlando Fishing Report

If there was any doubt summer has hit central Florida, this week dispelled it. The calendar claims summer won’t be here for a couple weeks, but reality says it’s here now. It’s blazing hot, and this is the early June Orlando Fishing Report.

Still trying to sell that EZ Loader- Details at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/sale-rebuilt-aluminum-ez-loader-trailer/

Friend and neighbor Karl Dienst somehow came upon a small, cherry, 1950s aluminum boat, a Blue Star perhaps? He got this idea that he should paint it to look like Chuck Yeager’s WWII P-51 Mustang. He got the job done in time to launch the very spiffy-looking boat with his friend Paul Dachoff on, appropriately, Memorial Day. I’m sharing here a couple of the pictures they took.

orlando fishing report

Paul, Karl, and the Glamorous Glen

 

orlando fishing report

A toast!

I had gotten a report from a reliable source that the Banana River Lagoon was not dead, that the water had cleared somewhat, and the fish were biting. On Tuesday I went to check it out. In the cleanest place I found I could barely see my feet in knee-deep water. I saw a few small black drum and caught one on a black redfish worm, and got three small reds on the same fly, all sight fished in real shallow water. While that’s certainly better than “everything is dead”, it was not terribly encouraging.

Wednesday Tom Van Horn and I went out of Port Canaveral. We didn’t find any bait, or any fish other than little tunny. We got ten or so tunny on Sting Silvers, and a single Spanish mackerel that apparently believed in integration. Good for it! We talked to a couple of other guides at the boat ramp who had a similar day.

orlando fishing report

Tunny Tommy

Thursday I went kayaking on the Mosquito Lagoon. The weather was very hot and sunny, with a light breeze until the afternoon, when it started honkin out of the east. The few fish I saw were very spooky. I managed one redfish on a black bunny leech.

Friday George Allen and I went out of the Port on a tunny hunt. We found them about three miles off the beach and got several on Sting Silvers. I pulled out a seven weight fly pole and got one on a bouncer bucktail streamer.

orlando fishing report

I love to see this!

 

orlando fishing report

Tunny on fly- file photo

So fishing was not spectacular this week, and that is the early June Orlando fishing report from Spotted Tail.

Due to travel there’s a very high probability that I will take a bye week next week- don’t expect a report.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Memorial Day Orlando Fishing Report

May 28, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Memorial Day Orlando Fishing Report

This weekend try to take a few moments to consider all those people who made the ultimate sacrifice defending our way of life. Because Monday is Memorial Day, we have the Memorial Day Orlando fishing report this week.

If you have a few extra moments in there, please say a prayer for both Steve Baker and TC Howard, both of whom are battling illness and could use a spiritual hand. Steve was a mentor to me when I first got to Florida and taught me a ton about fishing here. TC is the master rod builder, retired firefighter, and Viet Nam vet. Good men, both.

Still trying to sell that EZ Loader- Details at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/sale-rebuilt-aluminum-ez-loader-trailer/

OK, Fishing!

On Monday long-time friend Tammy Wilson joined me out on the Atlantic. Our goal was to hook into a couple of those mongo jack crevalle with flies. Last week when all those fish were out there the wind was from the west. Monday it was from the northeast. Not only was the Mitzi at or slightly beyond its design capacity for the waves, most of the fish were gone. We saw two small groups of fish, got one lame shot that did not work, and got a good, solid, old-fashioned skunking. Ouch.

The wind was out of the east the remainder of the week, making the ocean an impossibility for the Mitzi.

Thursday Scott Radloff and I went kayak fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. The east wind was not our friend, but we managed four redfish between us, me with a fly and Scott with a jerkbait. I even selfied myself with one that got fooled with a black bunny leech. The water is still brown and disgusting looking.

orlando fishing report

Gotta love the selfie!

Scott does quite a bit of work in Sarasota. He asked me not to disclose the place we kayak fished on Friday. While the fishing was not red-hot, we did get some nice fish. I even managed to fool a snook on a redfish worm, and selfied myself again! Can’t say the water looked much better there, either.

orlando fishing report

Still selfie-ing!

Still have open days this month. Give me a call if you want to go fishing!

And that is the Memorial Day Orlando fishing report from Spotted Tail. Please enjoy the weekend safely!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, port canaveral fishing report · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Jackzilla Port Canaveral Fishing Report

May 22, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Jackzilla Port Canaveral Fishing Report and Photo Essay

Four days fishing out of Port Canaveral this week led to some outstanding catches, particularly if you consider a 30 pound plus crevalle jack an outstanding catch. The fishing out there was fairly sizzling. So we have the Jackzilla Port Canaveral fishing report this week. Still trying to sell that EZ Loader- Details at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/sale-rebuilt-aluminum-ez-loader-trailer/

orlando fishing report

For sale!

The Indian River Lagoon is not the only great Florida waterway suffering from gross mismanagement. See this link about Lake Okeechobee- https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/2016/05/15/sucking-in-the-algae-bloom-lake-okeechobees-s-308-slrirl/. We desperately need a new governor and an almost entirely new legislature. Not that I have strong feelings about it! Monday was not about the Port, though. Monday morning found two gentlemen from Jacksonville in the Mitzi, Mr, Jeff Weir and his friend Marinis. We were out on Mosquito Lagoon, looking for redfish. We found decent numbers of fish, although they were uncooperative enough that they only got one each. We had a good time!

port canaveral fishing report

Jeff with his only redfish of the day.

Tuesday Scott Radloff and I went out of the Port. It was snotty at first and I almost turned around. Jim Ross gave me a bunch of menhaden and invited us to follow him, which was really nice of him. We did. It took a while to get a bite, but when we did it was a double of mongo jacks. Quite a way to kick off the action. Jackzilla!

port canaveral fishing report

Scott’s hands were full for a while with this beast.

Soon there were jacks swimming all around us. One day several years ago Scott and I hooked 14 of the beasts, but we’re older (and maybe wiser) now, besides the been there done that aspect. So after he got his second one it was time to look for some other action.

port canaveral fishing report

He’s happy it’s no longer on his line!

The wind layed down, and the sun came out. The weather just continued improving all day.

port canaveral fishing report

Jackzilla!

We found some tarpon rolling. They were scattered and I didn’t think we’d hook one, but a fatty came up and ate my pogy. It proceeded to jump all over the Atlantic trying unsuccessfully to dislodge the hook. What it did succeed in doing was to saw through the #80 fluorocarbon leader. So it got away. And the rest of the fish disappeared. While we soaked baits hoping a stray was still around the biggest, baddest, meanest jackzilla of all bit my bait and proceeded to cause me some serious pain. No kidding, that fish kicked my alpha, you know what I mean?

port canaveral fishing report

This fish caused me some pain. Although it does hurt so nice…

Now I was really done with the jacks. We were still seeing them all around, but neither of us wanted anything else to do with them. I saw some activity and went to check. Breaking tunny! I love tunny! We fired jigs out. Bam! I was on. Still trying to recover from the jack, now I had the tunny. Tunny are awesome but compared to a crevalle pushing 40 pounds it was pretty easy. We got a couple more before we were done.

port canaveral fishing report

A phalanx of blacktips.

We saw another bunch of activity and went to check. It was a school of sharks, sharpnose and blacktips, up on the surface, on a ball of anchovies, with Spanish mackerel and tunny blasting through them to get at the anchovies. Neither of us wanted anything to do with the sharks as far as a fishing rod was concerned, but I wanted photos. I got the camera out and started firing, resulting in a couple good shots.

port canaveral fishing report

Sharks and ‘chovies!

So the day started slowly, and ended up being my best day out of the Port this year. Lots of big fish, hungry, and awesome weather. Yeah, it was good. Thursday found me back on the Atlantic, this time with Tom Finger in the Mitzi. Tom’s biggest crevalle to date was about eight pounds- I’m not sure he believed me when I told him there were 30 pounders out there. Again, it started slow and just kept getting better. His first fish was a small shark, which did nothing to prepare him for the second fish- a 30 pound crevalle. Jackzilla! He fought it hard, and in only 25 minutes or so had it boatside. I pulled it in and photographed him with it, and off it went.

port canaveral fishing report

Tom with a small shark, one of many.

The sharks were almost a nuisance. The tunny never showed up. We hooked several more jacks, and then found some tarpon. Tom jumped a smallish one, and then another fatty ate my bait. This fish, well over 100 pounds, jumped only once and proceeded to kick my alpha. Twice in two days! He got down on the bottom, and despite using every trick I know I could not lift him. After 20 minutes I broke him off.

port canaveral fishing report

Tom met jackzilla, too.

Tom got one more shark and we called it a (great) day. Friday Mike Conneen and son Alex joined me, hoping for some big fish, especially tarpon. Alex started off the festivities with a big tunny that smoked some line off the reel before succumbing rather easily, at least compared to some of the other fish we would hook.

port canaveral fishing report

Alex and Mr. Tunny.

Then Mike hooked and got butt kicked by a big shark that in 30 minutes we only got a couple glimpses of. Finally the fish, tired of toying with Mike, bit through the leader and made his getaway.

port canaveral fishing report

Mike got a hand from Alex so he could boat his fish.

Mike then hooked a massive crevalle. Jackzilla! When he finally got the fish released he said, “I do not want another jack today.” OK!

port canaveral fishing report

You can’t really blame him for not wanting another one. Jackzilla!

We found some breaking tunny. Alex got one on a jig. I love tunny but it was as a minnow compared to everything else we got. We went looking for tarpon. We saw a handful but nothing that was really targetable (is that a word?) But we did find another school of jacks. Alex cast a menhaden in front of them and they raced each other to get there first. Alex hooked and caught the winner. Unless you compared it to the one Mike had caught it was a giant.

port canaveral fishing report

What is this again? Jackzilla!

We spent the rest of our day searching without success for tarpon. We got in just before the sky cut loose with torrential rains and winds. Saturday Dr. Jacob Garrett of Fort Worth joined me on the Atlantic, hoping to meet some sharks, some big jacks, some tarpon. He fought the first creature he hooked for 30 minutes. It broke off without us ever seeing what it was, not even a flash of color.

port canaveral fishing report

Dr. Garrett was thrilled to catch this shark.

Without going into the sordid details, he got a small hammerhead, a large jack, hooked and lost two tarpon and got broken off a few times, just an outstanding day. Thank you for fishing with me, sir, and I hope to see you again!

port canaveral fishing report

Jacob was certainly not to be outdone by my other anglers.

Still have open days this month. Give me a call if you want to go fishing!

port canaveral fishing report

Dr. Garrett, hooked up again.

And that is the Jackzilla Port Canaveral fishing report from Spotted Tail. Life is great and I love my work! Life is short- Go Fishing! John Kumiski www.spottedtail.com http://www.spottedtail.com/blog www.johnkumiski.com www.rentafishingbuddy.com https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Lone Ranger Orlando Fishing Report

May 13, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

Lone Ranger Orlando Fishing Report

Somewhat self-fishly, I fished alone every day this week. Thus the Lone Ranger Orlando Fishing report.
I fish alone, yeah, with nobody else.
You know when I fish alone, I prefer to be by myself!
My apologies to George Thorogood.

Fishing alone lets me try new techniques and places I probably wouldn’t try if someone else was with me. So this week was an opportunity for personal growth. Yeah, that’s it.

My old EZ Loader trailer has been rebuilt. It is now for sale. Details at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/sale-rebuilt-aluminum-ez-loader-trailer/

Some fascinating reading about dinosaurs here-—

orlando fishing report

I would love to tie some flies with these feathers!

Who doesn’t love reading about dinosaurs? I would like to tie some flies with dinosaur feathers. Probably won’t happen…

Monday, went out in the Mitzi on the mightly Atlantic. I wanted two things- Spanish mackerel for my aunt and a neighbor, and tarpon for me. Got the macks, at least. There was a load of them out there. Yes, the Sting Silver from Haw River Tackle is probably the best mackerel lure on the planet.

I did see one tarpon roll- talk about the Lone Ranger! My booby prize was a mongo crevalle jack that crushed a DOA Bait Buster. I got to try my new fighting belt, it worked quite nicely. It was an awesome day that I enjoyed tremendously.

orlando fishing report

This fishie crushed a deep running Bait Buster.

Tuesday morning found the kayak on the Econlockhatchee. Of course I was expecting it to be as good as the last time I was there and of course it was not. Five hours, five small bass, a missed strike or two, and again, one redbelly that managed to impale itself on the bass bug. The river looked great, running low and clear. It was an awesome day that I enjoyed tremendously.

Wednesday found the kayak on the Mosquito Lagoon. It had been wet all of five minutes when my somewhat disbelieving eyes spotted a pod of eight or ten redfish, tailing. The cast, the bite, the 16 inch trout that spooked all the other fish.

A few minutes later a pair of tails appeared, but disappeared before a cast could happen. Splash! Crash! Something chasing a shrimp. The fly (a rootbeer colored Sparkle Crab) fell there and an 18 inch trout bit. So I’ve been out ten minutes and have already released two fish. Before lunch I would release four reds, all in the slot, all sight fished.

After lunch six or seven more would get released, with a couple at the top of the slot, excellent fishing. Plus there were missed strikes and blown shots. It was going on! I got to that wonderful point where you say, “I do not want to fish anymore.” And I passed up a bunch of shots paddling back to the launch. It was an awesome day that I enjoyed tremendously.

orlando fishing report

For the fly tyers, here’s a photo of the very simple Sparkle Crab.

Thursday, doing something I don’t often do. I went to Playalinda hoping to pull a fish or two out of the surf. This involves walking the beach, as far into the water as I’m comfortable going, and casting a pair of bucktail jigs (rigged tandem) into the waves.

The surf was high enough that conditions were marginal. So was the fishing. In a little over an hour I had jumped a single bluefish.

Since I had the kayak and a fly rod, I went to a different spot in the Mosquito Lagoon than the previous day. Of course I was expecting it to be as good as the last time I was there and of course it was not. There were fewer fish and they seemed more spooky. But eight or ten decent shots came my way, and two handsome, seven pound redfish were released, still on the same Sparkle Crab. It was an awesome day that I enjoyed tremendously.

Friday I went to my favorite spot on the St. Johns River. Before launching the kayak I knew it would be tough fishing- there was no fishy activity going on. The bullfrogs were ribbeting, the birds were chirping and scolding, the coots were being goofy as always- but no fish. I never thought I would get skunked there, but that’s exactly what happened. I was out of there before noon. I had the whole place to myself, and it was still an awesome day that I enjoyed tremendously.

orlando fishing report

Hard to believe you could get skunked in a place like this, but there you go.

So fishing was a mixed bag this week, and I learned a few new things. The weather was great all week. I am so lucky to be able to do what I do.

Still have open days this month. Give me a call if you want to go fishing!

And that is the Lone Ranger Orlando fishing report from Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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One Day Fishing Orlando Fishing Report

May 7, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

One Day Fishing Orlando Fishing Report

For a variety of reasons, some of which were entirely out of my control, I only fished one day this week. So we have a one day fishing Orlando fishing report.

My apologies if this reads a little like an infomercial, but a couple things need to get moved.

One of the things I did other than fish, which took up most of a day, was to finish rebuilding the EZ Loader trailer. It is now for sale. Details at this link- http://www.spottedtail.com/sale-rebuilt-aluminum-ez-loader-trailer/

orlando fishing report

For sale cheap!

Another thing that took up most of a day was publishing a new ebook, Practical Flies for Spotted Seatrout. You can see it at these links- www.smashwords.com and www.amazon.com.

Seatrout flies ebook cover copy 2

I took my long-time friend (one of the longest!) Kevin paddling on the Econ on Thursday. We used to play baseball and ride bikes together as kids. The weather was spectacular, the river beautiful. The water had come up a foot in two days from the rain, but was still pretty clear.

orlando fishing report

The water level rose a foot, like right now.

Redbellies are on their beds, although we hardly fished. We saw several alligators, including some big boys.

orlando fishing report

Kevin and the tool of propulsion.

 

orlando fishing report

Me and my good luck charm.

I visited a couple other long-time friends on Friday. I am certainly blessed to have friends that I’ve known for 20 years or more.

My fishing day was Tuesday. The spot was the Econ. The vessel was a kayak. The method was fly fishing with a deerhair bug. The fishing started off slow, built to a thundering crescendo, and then completely died. The bass were mostly small ones, but I got one pushing four pounds that was blind in one eye (photo below) and an even larger one that I did not get a photo of. The sunfish were aggressive, smacking that big bug. One even managed to impale itself on the #2 hook. It was a beautiful, very enjoyable day. One weird thing, I did not see an alligator. Where were they???

orlando fishing report

His name wasn’t Polyphemus, but he had only one working eye.

And that is the One Day Fishing Orlando fishing report from the Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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A Fairly Boring Orlando Fishing Report

April 23, 2016 by · Leave a Comment

A Fairly Boring Orlando Fishing Report

One charter this week, combined with high, dirty water, did not make me want to go to the lagoon. Howling east winds all week prevented me from visiting the ocean. Most of my fishing was in retention ponds. So it’s a fairly boring Orlando Fishing report.

Sunday morning found me at a new (for me) retention pond. I tried the black matuka streamer first and got a dink bass, then nothing. I switched to a popping bug and got three more dink bass. All this in about an hour.

I checked out a three other ponds. One was almost inaccessible, the other apparently fishless. The third produced five fish in about 45 minutes, all on a Z-Man worm. They were all decent fish, with one striving to be something more…

orlando fishing report

It’s something less than five pounds, but it’s the best bass of the week for me.

Monday I was at the auto mechanic’s all day. Got quite a few flies tied.

Tuesday found me scouting the St. Johns and the Econ. Nothing was happenning in the St. Johns, and in four hours on the Econ I got two redbellies. Talk about slow fishing! Word on the street was that the bass were schooling at daybreak.

Wednesday found Dick Dolloff and Chris Jones in the Mitzi with me, at daybreak, on the St. Johns. The bass were in fact schooling, chasing minnows. We did not have their number, getting only two or three bites and boating exactly one small bass.

At 830 we pulled the boat and drove to the Mosquito Lagoon. If you check the gauge you’ll see the water has been rising steadily for about a week. It’s still dirty. So places where I could see the bottom last week are now featureless because you can’t see the bottom any more.

Chris got a slot red on a sparkle crab, casting blindly. Dick managed to see one and worked it for almost 15 minutes before the fish finally took. He said it was the single most difficult fish to get a bite from in his life. Unfortunately I did not get a photo of either fish. And that was it for the day.

Thursday I got this idea that if I were going to fish retention ponds, some black Culprit worms should be in my repertoire. So I went to get some. The store didn’t have any. The closest I could get was red shad.

Friday and Saturday I fished eight or nine different ponds. The bass seemed to like the red shad worms quite a bit, although from some ponds I got nothing at all. The good ponds made up for the bad ones, though.

The search for ponds and the thrill of getting some nice fish out of unlikely-looking places is surprisingly enjoyable.

orlando fishing report

This bass-producing retention pond is in an industrial park.

And that is the fairly boring Orlando fishing report from the Spotted Tail.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com
http://www.spottedtail.com/blog
www.johnkumiski.com
www.rentafishingbuddy.com
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/jkumiski

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2016. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report, Orlando Fishing Report, St. Johns River Fishing Report · Tagged: , , , , ,
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